Art Walk: Fantasizing the Peasantry Life

Today Bridget and Jorge’s presentation of the painting Mrs. Beckwith spoke about how that time period people were romanticizing peasantry. Bridget later added how this type of romanticizing is comparable to Victor Hugo’s Gavroche character from Les Miserables. Later in the question part Jaime brought up how this is kind of like the cultural appropriation of African American culture. I think all of these examples are apart of the phenomenon of fantasizing lifestyles that people see as “freeing.”

The French thinking that being a peasant gave you more freedom than the “structured life of nobility” is utterly ridiculous. Most of these peasants were starving and dying in the gutter, and the notion that these people were the only truly “free” people is unlikely. I think that the continued trend throughout history of this happening is that upper classes begin to get bored with the way they are supposed to act regal and extravagant at all times, this causes them to become fancied with the lower classes way of life that seem “simpler.” This idea is very ignorant, because nobility who feel as though being wealthy and having status makes life harder more than simpler seems to be the opposite of true. 


In today’s society those with the most have the most opportunities and very little constraints. For instance, those who come from wealthy families can attend prestigious schools and eventually go onto prestigious jobs because every opportunity is affordable for them. Those from lower class families have to work harder to make sure they are given the same opportunities and are able to get out of their situation. As a society we need to move away from this trend of fantasizing different cultures and lifestyles and realize the struggles that come with them. 

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